


A Series of Miscommunicated Events

by contemplativepancakes



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (from Nora's pov), Episode: s09e06 Heaven Can't Wait, F/M, M/M, POV Outsider, Rexford, The Fanfiction Gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 11:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19811014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/contemplativepancakes/pseuds/contemplativepancakes
Summary: When Nora first meets Steve, she’s not sure what to think.Her heart rate spikes at the uneasiness he’s projecting as he shuffles his feet, and she takes a step closer to the panic button under the counter. “Can I help you?”“Um, yes. You have a help wanted sign out front. I’m sure I can be helpful. I’m very good at obeying orders,” he says in earnest, and she relaxes minutely.She hands him an application, and when he turns it back in, Steve Nicks is written across it in big block letters. “Hi, Steve. I’m Nora. How soon can you start?”Castiel's time in Rexford from Nora's point of view.





	A Series of Miscommunicated Events

When Nora first meets Steve, she’s not sure what to think. He flings open the door to the Gas n’ Sip, but he flinches at the peal of the bell overhead. He stares up at it, squinting, like the bell has personally offended him, before retreating to the back of the store to stare at the line of juices. She refocuses to finish recording the temperature of the nacho cheese, and she jumps when she turns around to find him standing right in front of the register, no purchases in hand. Her heart rate spikes at the uneasiness he’s projecting as he shuffles his feet, and she takes a step closer to the panic button under the counter. “Can I help you?”

“Um, yes. You have a help wanted sign out front. I’m sure I can be helpful. I’m very good at obeying orders,” he says in earnest, and she relaxes minutely.

“Okay. Do you have a resume?”

He pinches his eyebrows together and shakes his head. Nora shrugs. It’s not like you need a whole lot of experience to stand behind a register and stock some shelves. She goes to get a clipboard and an application for him to fill out, the man fidgeting quietly the whole time. He looks downtrodden, and Nora’s sure she can help with that. He seems like he’ll do what he’s asked when he’s asked to do it, which is more than she can say of her usual applicants. She hands him the form, and he shoots her a hesitant toothy smile. She points him to a chair behind the counter he can sit in while he fills it out. He frowns down at it often and almost goes to start chewing on the pen before thinking better and pulling back. _Good call_ , she thinks. That’s the pen Kyle uses when he works, and he always smells like ass.

Eventually, he stands up and hands her the mostly completed application. She looks down and studies his answers. _Steve Nicks_ is written in block letters on the name line. All in all, his answers are a bit odd, but he’s effectively endeared himself to her, and she has a good feeling about this one, anyway. “Hi, Steve. I’m Nora. How soon can you start?”

The next day, Steve is standing outside the gas station before she even gets there. She smiles. She knew there was something to this guy. Throughout the day, she shows him the basics of his job and tries to pry out some of his backstory. He is surprisingly tight lipped about his background, but he is quick to pick up what Nora shows him. She’s comfortable enough to leave him to man the register in the afternoon while she fills out some paperwork.

The weeks pass, and Nora slowly gives Steve more responsibilities. He’s the best employee she’s ever had, but he would be even better if he’d give her more scintillating conversation than just work topics. She goes as far as to invite him over to her house one night for supper, but he still refuses to tell her anything about how he came to be in Rexford or his home life. She’s betting he got kicked out of wherever he was living before and came here for a fresh start. She doesn’t know why anyone wouldn’t want Steve around, though. He’s genuinely nice to all of the customers, and she’s never seen him leer at any of the women who come in, regardless of their state of dress. Come to think of it, she doesn’t think she’s seen Steve express interest like that in any of the women here, even though he gets hit on at least three times a day. He just tilts his head at them and answers their pickup lines literally. Nora would think it was cute if it wasn’t like watching hawks circle a declawed kitten. If she feels a little protective over her newest employee, so what? She’d definitely like to keep Steve around as long as possible.

She makes sure to tell him so the next time she comes in late, and Steve has everything taken care of. “You’re special,” she says with a soft smile.

Nora finds a toothbrush and a sleeping bag in the supply closet at work, and she raises her eyebrows in surprise. She goes out to ask Steve about them, and he says they’re his. He explains how he wanted to be thorough with inventory, so he slept there. Nora isn’t that easily fooled, but she’s also not going to rag on the poor guy. She doesn’t see that it’s doing any harm. The fact that her chest clenches in sympathy for him isn’t hurting his case any, either. She figures he could probably use some time on a couch with a tv, so she asks him to babysit Tanya for her during her date. She’ll have to call her normal babysitter and cancel, but she figures Steve’s need is a little more urgent than her teenage babysitter’s need for spending money.

Things start to click together when Nora sees Steve flustered for the first time later that day. She watches from the back room as a handsome man walks up to the register with a shit eating grin. She can’t hear their conversation, but it looks like the guy knows Steve. Steve looks a little uncomfortable, but her curiosity wins out over swooping in to save him from the situation. The man is familiar with Steve, reaching out to him and making casual contact. Nora’s thoughts really start to churn, and Steve’s lack of interest in any of their patrons starts to make sense. Steve is still hung up on this guy, who’s now talking to him urgently in hushed tones. She watches them for a bit longer before taking pity on Steve. “Hate to interrupt you guys,” _not really,_ she thinks, _you seem like a jackass, and Steve can do better,_ “but, Steve? A customer had an accident in the men’s room.”

“I’m on it,” Steve answers readily.

She figures the man talking to Steve could use a reality check that Steve has better things to do than wait around for him, so she turns to Steve and asks brightly, “Oh, and tonight- seven at my place work for you?”

“Great.”

“You’re the best!” she beams.

She sees the man giving her a sour look as she walks away, and she resists the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

When she gets home that night, she feeds Tanya and settles her in her crib before going upstairs to get ready for her date. She agonizes over her clothing choices, but this is the first date she’s had since Tanya was born, so she figures it’s justified. Oh, God, what if he thinks her stretch marks are disgusting? She quickly chases the thought from her mind. First of all, it’s a first date; she’s not going to make poor Steve wait for her half the night while she has sex, and second of all, if her date isn’t the type of guy who can handle her after baby belly, he definitely can’t handle a baby. She tilts her chin up. She’s not going to self-sabotage this. She’s going to have a good time.

She hears a knock on the door, and she zips downstairs to open the door for Steve. She gives him a quick run down, telling him, “She’ll probably sleep the whole time, and I’ll only be gone a couple of hours. I just couldn’t get my usual sitter,” she lies, “and I needed somebody here just in case she wakes up and starts crying. Which she won’t, I promise. Baby Tanya never cries,” she says, and then she’s out the door, glancing at her watch. She’s going to be cutting it closely.

Jim, her date, turns out to be quite charming, and she has a good time even if one of her nails gets broken when she throws the bowling ball. She complains good naturedly to Jim, and he reaches out and brings her finger to his lips, maintaining eye contact with her the whole time. He brings his hands up to cradle her face, and they share a sweet kiss. She pulls back and smiles at him.

“Oops, I think I got a little pizza grease right, here,” Jim laughs, pressing another kiss to the corner of her mouth.

She grins and leans back against the bench, so they can talk more, their game of bowling forgotten.

Eventually, she excuses herself to grab her phone. “Sorry, just want to check on Tanya.”

She frowns when she sees she has three missed calls from Steve. She turns to Jim. “Hey, I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

Jim gets up with her and says he’ll take care of the rental shoes. “Thank you. I had a really fantastic time tonight,” she says, surging up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Me, too,” he smiles back as he waves her off to check on Tanya.

She sends him a wave over her shoulder as she hustles out to her car, not stopping to listen the voice mail. When she bursts into her house, she’s surprised to see Steve leaning into the man from earlier on her couch. She notes Steve holding Tanya against his chest, and she warms at the sight. The man’s phone starts ringing, and he looks at her both in apology and relief. “Sorry, I have to take this,” he says as he walks out to the big black car parked in front of her house, Nora catching a whiff of his cologne as he moves by. 

“Is there something wrong?” she asks, still gathering her breath.

“Not anymore. She had a fever,” Steve says as he lays Tanya back in her crib.

Nora walks him to the door. He turns to her, “I’m sorry I over reacted. My friend gave me a tip. A low dose of acetaminophen brought the fever right down.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Date was a bust, anyway,” she says, so Steve doesn’t feel so bad. “Steve? That part of you that overreacted, that cares so much? That’s what makes you special.” 

Nora watches as Steve walks down the steps towards the man’s car. She goes to bed hoping Steve isn’t getting his heart too bruised tonight. Hell, maybe his boyfriend came to ask him to come home. She guesses she’ll find out tomorrow.

The next morning, Steve is already there when she arrives, like he usually is. She watches him carefully throughout the morning, but his expression is as inscrutable as ever. She decides the fact that he hasn’t turned in his two weeks’ notice is telling enough.

“You know, I have some experience with jerk ex-boyfriends.”

Steve looks up at her sharply. “What?”

“It’s okay,” she soothes, “I know Idaho is a red state, but not everyone’s a total asshole. If you ask me, you could do better.”

He shakes his head sadly. “I really couldn’t. Dean is the best man I know.”

She smiles ruefully. She’d thought that about her ex, too. “Well, you still don’t have to just sit here waiting for him to come and yank on your chain. Go out and live a little, Steve!”

He looks doubtful. “I don’t know what to do without him. This job is all I have.”

Nora forces herself to smile at that dismal statement. “Let’s go apartment searching after your shift today,” she says.

“Um, I don’t think I have enough-”

She cuts him off. “You’re a good guy, Steve. I can help you with the deposit, and I think if I juggle some things around, I’ll be able to get you here full time. Let’s just get you a home, okay? You don’t need someone else just so you can prove your worth to them.”

When he looks up at her, it’s like he’s looking through new eyes. He breaks into a hesitant smile. “Thank you,” he whispers.

Although she doesn’t think Steve has any success on the moving on from Dean front, he seems happier as the weeks pass. She gives Steve a pamphlet for volunteering at the library, and he comes back bursting to the seams with stories to tell her about all the kids he read to. She grins at the life that’s seemed to ignite under his skin, even if she still frowns when he shows up to work some days smelling of a familiar cologne. She tries to set him up on a blind date, but he puts his foot down and refuses. He babysits Tanya for her every now and then, and once for a whole night when she stays with Jim. Nora can see some real potential there, and she drags Steve to supper with them, so maybe he can see one healthy example of how his partner should be treating him. She’s not sure he catches on, but she tries her best as Jim looks on in amusement.

When Steve gives her his two weeks notice, it’s unexpected, and of course, he doesn’t feel the need to elaborate. “Are you not happy here?” she asks in concern.

“No, I was. I am. I just- this isn’t what I was made for. I need purpose beyond this, now.”

She nods her head. No one wants to work at a gas station forever. “I hope you find what you’re looking for. You deserve it.”

Steve smiles, looking touched. Nora shakes her head in fond exasperation. Steve still acts like it’s the first time anyone’s been nice to him ever when she gives him a compliment. “Are you going back with Dean?” she asks.

He blushes. “No. Not right now. I need some time to figure myself out.”

Nora smiles in hesitant pride. Not the best answer, but at least he’s not running back to Dean right away. Steve’s tried to convince her of how good of a guy Dean is, but Nora just can’t get past the fact that he kicked Steve out.

On Steve’s last day, she picks up a cake, and the other employees come to see him off. He shakes his head, looking overwhelmed. “You didn’t have to do this,” he says, but he’s beaming.

Nora pulls him into a hug. “Couldn’t let my best employee go without a proper send off,” she whispers in his ear, and he flushes red, his smile turning bashful.

Nora gives him a ride back to his apartment that night. “Take care of yourself, okay? Don’t settle for anything less than I’d think you deserve.” She points at him sternly.

“Thank you for everything,” Steve says earnestly, clasping her hand.

It’s bittersweet watching Steve walk away for the last time, but she thinks he’s on to greater things.

Even a few years later, Steve still crosses her mind from time to time. Whenever Tanya gets a fever, she can’t help but wonder about him. She hopes he has all the happiness in the world.

When she gets a card in the mail with no return address, but with a picture of Dean grinning as he tells Steve something, and Steve’s mouth open wide as he laughs in response, she thinks he might have it.

Looking at Tanya running around the house and Jim chasing after her, she thinks she might have it, too.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this](https://elizabethrobertajones.tumblr.com/post/96313086333/bassdropcrinklesnitch-do-you-think-when-dean) tumblr post


End file.
